The Child and Youth-Friendly Urban Design (CYFUD) framework is an adaptable and comprehensive approach to integrating children and young people into urban design and planning processes. Based on participatory research centered around child-focused perspectives, CYFUD translates child-friendly street indicators into practical design strategies that enhance urban environments, making them more inclusive and supportive of young people. Based on insights from child-centered studies, CYFUD focuses on three key aspects of urban design that are crucial for creating child-friendly spaces:
1. Active Travel & Safety Features: Ensuring streets are safe and accessible for walking and cycling.
2. Natural Features: Integrating green spaces and natural features that promote children's wellbeing.
3. Places to be, meet others and play: Designing environments that encourage play, meeting, and social engagement.
Through these principles, tailored CYFUD toolkit offers a variety of tools and activities for different target groups to engage them in the co-assessment and co-design of urban spaces, providing support that aligns with their specific needs of each project and target group.
- For Educators/Parents: The toolkit helps them support children’s urban experiences, such as using the Route Priority Tool to identify safe walking/cycling routes. It also provides opportunities for educators and parents to engage with child-friendly urban design concepts, enhancing their understanding of child-friendly cities and fostering their involvement in future urban design projects.
- For Children: CYFUD enables children to actively participate in the co-assessment and co-design of their neighborhoods. For example, the Route Assessment Tool, based on the CYFUD Criteria, provides a fun and accessible way for children to evaluate the streets they regularly walk or cycle. The tool focuses on the functionality of urban design features based on children's scale, needs, and preferences.
- For Urban Designers/Policymakers: CYFUD equips urban designers and policymakers to create child-friendly cities. By using the CYFUD Criteria in design processes or applying the Translating Tool to incorporate children’s design ideas, they can apply children’s insights to community projects aimed at improving children’s health and well-being in urban environments.
By utilizing the same CYFUD Criteria, tailored tools for each target group help achieve specific project objectives in the most effective and inclusive way possible. For the process to be successful, it is essential that local governments initiate projects that enable facilitators to make the toolkit accessible to schools and the community. This approach will ultimately contribute to broader goals of creating healthier, more inclusive cities.
In the context of the UP2030: Urban Planning and Design ready for 2030 project, based on CYFUD two tailored toolkits were designed to meet the goals of two partner cities (Belfast and Budapest), focusing on promoting children’s active travel to school (Walking Bus and School Street closure initiatives). Both Active School Travel initiatives aimed to promote more active and sustainable ways of commuting to school, to improve air quality by reducing car usage around schools, thus decreasing emissions in surrounding neighborhoods. The toolkits include a range of participatory tools, activities, roadmaps, and campaign materials to support local authorities and enablers to effectively organize and implement the initiatives
